Sensex jumps 305 points on Europe, RBI expectations

The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) sensitive index, Sensex, on Monday jumped 305 points, or 1.8%, to close at 17,144 on expectations that the European Union may take more action to ease the region’s debt crisis. The Sensex’s surge on Monday was its highest in over a month and it comes a day before the credit policy by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

The broader National Stock Exchange index Nifty gained 99.9 points, or 2.0%, to close at 5,199.8 points on Monday.

“Buying was seen in the sectors like banking, metals, capital goods, power and health care stocks,” said Alex Mathew, head, research, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services. “Interest rate sensitive realty stocks were up ahead of the RBI’s first quarter review policy on Tuesday.”

The Sensex gained mainly due to the rise in ICICI Bank, Infosys and L&T (due to their weightage in Sensex) that jumped by 3.9%, 2.8% and 3.4% respectively. The highest gainers in Sensex were SBI, Tata Motors and Tata Power that surged by 4.6%, 4.2% and 4.1%. Only three scripts, Wipro, HUL and ONGC, closed in the red.

Industry experts say the gains may be limited due to the slow monsoon in the northern and western parts. Experts also expect that the RBI may take some action in the monetary policy front on Tuesday.

“RBI may release more liquidity by slashing cash reserve ratio (CRR) or by slashing the policy rates but expectations are very low,” said Raamdeo Agrawal, managing director, Motilal Oswal Financial Services.

The foreign institutional investors (FIIs), who have pumped in over R8,400 crore in July so far, also bought shares on Monday in the large and mid cap stocks, according to the traders.